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A few weeks back Mr. Clair was good enough to ship up four and half pounds of assorted mulefoot cuts in dry ice. The pig had been fed on a great deal of grain, said Mr. Clair, partly due to drought in his area. Now his pigs are on pasture, which he prefers. “Now its so green we can’t even find them,” he says. I received one pound of sausage, one pound, six ounces of pork chops, one pound cured ham steaks, 12 ounces of bacon, and four ounces of the intriguing “hillbilly ends” which are cured pieces of shoulder, like bacon–only leaner. “That’s the first thing that goes,” says Clair.
Mulefoot sausage vs. Odom’s Tennessee Pride Mild Country Sausage: Visually this was a challenging comparison. Tommy Clair’s sausage was lighter in color than the commercial brand, which appeared to be more heavily seasoned and perhaps slightly more coarsely ground. The panel had little idea which was which until the tasting. Most agreed that the mulefoot had a more apparent “greasiness” (not a criticism), which was odd since the Odom’s rendered more liquid during the cooking. Terra Brockman attributed this to added liquid in the commercial product. Joel Smith said the Odom’s had a familiar taste, like something you’d get at any greasy spoon. We generally agreed that the “off” flavor probably had little to do with pork and more to do with additives, something that may not be objectionable if it’s all you know. The mulefoot in contrast had a clean, unadulterated flavor, observed Wiviott, identifiable by what it didn’t taste like rather than what it did.
I’m guessing that’s about all the the mulefoot we’re going to taste until its time to eat our own pig. Until then we’ll just watch how it gets there.
